Nonvolatile memories such as, for example, a flash electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (“flash EEPROM” or “flash memory”) may retain their data until the memory is erased. Flash memory may be arranged as blocks of single transistor memory cells that may include a floating gate to store information. Although a flash memory is rewritable, the memory cells may not be re-programmed unless they have first been erased.
Further, the flash memory cells may only be erasable in blocks. Thus in order to erase one cell, an entire block of cells may have to be erased. Accessing a flash memory, for example, erasing a block of flash memory or writing to a flash memory may be a relatively time consuming process.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.